Console Management Ian Durkacz, School of Informatics, April 2007 ______

Table of Contents 1 Introduction...... 2 1.1 Requirements...... 2 1.2 Current approach...... 2 2 Possible future options...... 3 2.1 KVM over IP...... 3 2.1.2 KVMoIP ­ AdderLink IP...... 3 2.1.2 KVMoIP – Lantronix SecureLinx Spider...... 5 2.2 IPMI – Intelligent Platform Management Interface...... 5 2.2.1 IPMI v1.5...... 6 2.2.2 IPMI v2.0...... 7 2.3 Dell DRAC cards...... 8 2.4 Serial concentrator cards and bespoke configuration...... 9 2.5 Commodity solutions...... 10 3 Summary...... 12 3.1 General conclusions...... 12 3.2 Unresolved questions...... 13 Appendix A – AdderLink IP configuration...... 14 Appendix B – Dell naming conventions & IPMI support...... 14 Appendix C – Infrastructure servers & IPMI support...... 15 Appendix D ­ IPMI v1.5 SOL on a 8th generation Dell ...... 15 Appendix E ­ IPMI v2.0 SOL on a 9th generation Dell ...... 17 References...... 20 ______Remote access to the serial consoles of Informatics servers is currently handled using a combination of locally­configured software and hardware, some of which is no longer obtainable. This report is intended to be an overview which summarises the current approach, discusses the pros and cons of several possible alternative approaches, and makes some suggestions for future provision. The general conclusion is that, although there is no 'one­size­fits­all' solution, it appears viable to continue the current approach for our existing server hardware, and to move to an IPMI­based solution as future purchases allow. KVM over IP may have some niche application but does not appear to be of general use in this context, not least because it is currently too expensive.

1 1 Introduction

1.1 Requirements The general requirement for a console management scheme here is for a simple and inexpensive solution (say, < £70 per node, based on the cost of the current set­up) which allows us remotely to:

• do machine installations;

• look at serial console outputs, even for a dead/locked/unresponsive boxes;

• power cycle machines; and

• examine and set BIOS/bootprom values. And we would like to be able to do all this for multiple target machines simultaneously. Whilst it is not clear exactly how many – and which – Informatics server machines need to be accessible in this way via a console management scheme (though ideally it might be all such), the general requirement is, ideally, one console server solution per 'bank' of racks. Since it is expected that each bank will be composed of four or five racks, with a total of perhaps 80 to 90 machines in each such bank, the ideal outcome would be a console management scheme that could handle 80 to 90 machines 'per unit'.

1.2 Current approach Currently, access to the serial consoles1 of various Informatics Linux and Solaris servers is handled by six console server machines. Each such console server is fitted with either a 16­ or a 32­way serial card which is used to concentrate the serial ports of up to 32 target machines; each console server runs the conserver application [1] both to buffer the output of each target's console, and to arrange orderly access to these consoles. Of the 32­way serial cards currently in use, five are Cyclades Cyclom­Y cards, and the other is a Perle SX card. Cyclades no longer exists as a separate company – it was taken over by Avocent – and the Cyclom­Y cards themselves are no longer available. Analogous Avocent serial cards are still produced (see [2]), but are not available in the UK, and are available in the US to OEM purchasers only. However, Perle multi­port serial cards as currently used here do remain available for purchase in the UK (see [3]). The issues therefore are:

• Some of the hardware (namely, the Cyclades cards) we are using is no longer available: we need to ensure that we can support whatever approach we take.

• The current approach requires many serial cables to be run arou